March Madness and a TV Miracle

For several years, college basketball fans have been at the mercy of CBS during the NCAA tournament’s opening rounds. The network decided when a game had lost its appeal, when to switch over to something more compelling, etc. Thanks to the four-network system in place this year — CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV — those days are over.

(I’d never heard of truTV until yesterday, but sure enough, I show it as Channel 246 on DirecTV and Channel 65 on my Comcast cable service.)

With all of these networks in action, every single game will be shown in its entirety. Starting times will be staggered to avoid unwieldy conflicts, and as CBS Sports president Sean McManus told Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch, “Everyone is used to seeing the NCAAs on CBS. You sit down and watch and we switch back and forth. This year, the viewer is playing the role that CBS used to play. The viewer now has a clicker in his hand.”

It’s crazy, when you think about it. Viewers will be informed repeatedly when a tight game is taking place on another network. “Sending somebody to another network while the game is on yours is unheard-of,” said Turner Sports president David Levy. Then again, that’s exactly how it should be — a collective effort to give the tournament maximum exposure.

The tournament opens with the so-called “First Four,” with a pair of games on Tuesday and two more on Wednesday, all on truTV. The tournament begins in earnest on Thursday, and your channel-switching talents (should you care to do so) will be put to the test from the first starting time (9:30 a.m.) through the last (6:55 p.m., West Coast time). Good stuff ahead.